Announcements

February already! And with February comes the next supporter giveaway. This month, with great thanks once again to www.thestorygift.co.uk , we have a brilliantly bookish set of 'storyteller' pencils (featuring famous first lines) and a retro library card notebook!
As always, you'll be automatically entered into the giveaway if you support the forum on patreon, or if your pre-patreon membership is still active. If you want to be involved in the giveaway but don't currently support, you can join the patreon at any point in February here: www.patreon.com/bookclubforum .

Recent Profile Visitors

Wandering back in here!
I read "The Five Love Languages" a few weeks ago and was surprised that it was more helpful than I expected.
A lot of the suggestions seem very obvious, but if you stop and think about it, how often are we that intentional in our love?
I drew a lot of good insights from the book and it was kind of interesting to be able to pinpoint what my love language is vs my
boyfriend's love language. I think a focused reading of this book would probably help prevent and/or repair a lot of relationship
issues. Certainly not a hard read and easy to pick up, I'd recommend it to those mildly curious in bettering their love life.

Thanks for bringing it back! I could not get into Game of Thrones, I just found the entire premise so dreary and everyone was terrible. I couldn't find much to enjoy and so never bothered with the TV show either, even though it's wildly popular.
I'm currently reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis and I gotta say, it's a surprisingly fun read for such an old book. Fairly humorous story told from the perspective of demons writing to one another as they try to figure out how to corrupt a human man.
I've never read anything by Agatha Christie, but I do enjoy reading old books/classic lit. I have rarely come across any commentary so outrageous that it made me put the book down, though I've certainly slogged through some outdated written word. Mostly it seems to me to be an interesting look into how people thought in the past and what society was like. I don't take offense because, well, these people are no longer around and society is completely changed, so what's the point in getting upset? Unless it's depicting discriminatory violence I usually just press through those bits and enjoy the rest of the book.

Ahh, so sad to see this place go, but I totally get it. Forums are costly to run and take a lot of time, energy, and money. Thanks for keeping it going so long! I hope to wind up wherever everyone else ends up. Maybe you could edit the first post or make an announcement with the links to the places people are flocking to?

Yeah, it's totally okay! I think I'm done setting up, I'm not nearly so organized as some other folks, haha.
And that's good to know about it not having to be a yearly thing! Takes some of the pressure off. Thanks for the welcome!

Reading Wishlist:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
London by Edward Rutherfurd
Cretaceous sea: A novel of time travel by Will Hubbel
Raptor by Paul Zindel
Tyrannosaur Canyon by Douglas J. Preston
West of Eden by Harry Harrison
The Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Africa by Kim Donaldson
The Red Wyvern by Katherine Kerr
The Rover by Mel Odom
In Search of America by Peter Jennings
Long Night Dance by Betsy James
Eden by Olympia Vernon
The Iron Ring by Lloyd Alexander
Kushiel’s Dart by Jaquine Carny
The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
Silverhair, Longtusk, Icebones by Steven Baxter
King’s Shadow by Elizabeth Alder
Between by Jean Thompson
The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy
Dragon’s Bait by Vivien Vande Velde
Firegold by Dia Calhoun
Pure Dead Magic by Debi Gliordi
Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden
The Merlin Conspiracy by Dianne Wynne Jones
The Book of the Lion by Michael Cadmum
Deep Dream of the Forrest by Malcom Bosse
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

Hey everyone! It's been years and I'm sure most people who might recognize my name are long gone(here's my old blog if you're curious), but I've recently been missing doing book stuff around here. In 2015 I quit my teaching job to pursue a career in illustration. Because of the busyness of that and trying to establish myself in a new field, it's been years since I've even had time to read. I figured something like this might help me stay accountable and do some goal-setting.
I know it's the middle of the year, so I'm not going to give this one a year title, I'm just going to try to continuously update this thread as I read things. I hope that's okay/allowed as I've noticed most of these threads are made new each year. I'd like to keep using this one for a while, possibly into next year, and just make a new one if I go missing again for a while.
I will mostly be reviewing/rambling as able about the books I'm digging through, with perhaps the occasional accompanying doodle. If you're into that kind of thing, then this is the thread for you.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Currently Reading:
The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
Hoarders by Matt Paxton
Aesop's Fables by Aesop Ice Hunt by James Rollins Sitting on the shelf in Que to be Read:
Whispers at the Altar by Allan C.R. Cornelius
Beowulf
Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman
Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes
The Tangible Kingdom by Hugh Halter and Mat Smay
The Waking Land by Callie Bates
Have Read since July 2018:
The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman (4/5)
Anxious for Nothing by Max Lucado (3/5)
The Torah (--)
Recommended reads from years past:
*Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake [review]
**The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson [review]
*The Wal-Mart Effect by Charles Fishman[review]
*Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fossey
**An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina
*A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin [review]
*The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
*War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Key:
** = Highly recommend!
* = Recommend
X = I didn't care for the book, would not recommend
-- = Historical/Religious document that I read to inform myself
All unmarked books mean that I enjoyed the read My review ratings can be interpreted as such:
0/5: Paperweight
1/5: Could've done without reading this one, hardly any redeeming qualities
2/5: A "meh" book--unmemorable/had a lot of problems I couldn't read around
3/5: Pretty okay. You won't die if you miss it, but not awful.
4/5: Quite enjoyable, would read again.
5/5: You absolutely should read this. It reeks of awesome.(you may assume that any title with * by it gets this rating from me)[/url]

Oh no, I don't feel pressured at all. I was just commenting that it felt wierd not writing one since I almost always do, especially last year when I was doing this. I reviewed eeevveeerryyyttthiiing. And at length. xD Always glad to point someone in the direction of a good read though! Hope you enjoy it.

Nice! Nothing like free classics!
I probably should review White Fang too since I usually do for the books I read....but I feel so weird reviewing a book that has such an established place in literary circles. It's one of the many well-known classics and, well, I dunno, I just feel weird writing a review for it. xD Maybe I will though sometime, just didn't have as much time today as I thought.
Sped through Skip and the Wild Mustang, but they weren't really all that notable. Not terribly written or anything, just very much aimed at a younger audience and there wasn't a lot of substance in them. The Wild Mustang was interesting insofar as it was based on a founding member of the Pony of the Americas horse breed named "Dragon." Made me go look up the facts and see what matched, so that was kind of neat. But even so, his story wasn't all that involved or surprising. So I probably won't be reviewing those book either, haha. Wind in the Willows though, that one should be fun. It's one of those books I've always meant to read my whole life (like the Phantom Tollbooth, which I finally did read and HIGHLY reccomend) and just never have. Well, here's to checking another one off my lifelong reading list! May not get to it for another week or so though, life is about to get pretty busy again here for the next few days.

School got cancelled on account of ice today, yay! So I was up at 3 am finishing White Fang. xD It was quite good, but I also have a bias towards nature books/books written with animals as the main characters. So...yeah, I dunno. Maybe if you're not into that sort of thing you wouldn't like it, but as someone who grew up reading Lassie Come Home, Redwall, The Black Stallion series, etc I certainly enjoyed it a lot. Great descriptions of White Fang's psychology throughout his life experiences.
And wow, thanks everyone for the comments and interest in pictures! I'll have to be sure to include some throughout my little blog here, even if they are just doodles. :3 Now onto a couple more animal books I swiped of my TBR shelf that I keep at my parents' house (not enough room in the apartment I own for all of them, haha). These ones are pretty short, but I will feel accomplished adding a few more books to my 2014 read list.

Hey there! Good to "see" you again too! Always nice when I recognize familiar names.
Oh yes, all the time! I have sketchbook pages full of character sketches and drawings of powerful scenes from the pages I read. I love books and I love drawing what I see come out of them. That's actually what I would love to do for a living, illustrate books. I have always been really interested in the idea of words and images helping to share thoughts from author/artist to the reader/viewer. Such a cool thing to me! It's like stepping into someone else's head for a moment. I may post some sketches here from time to time if people wouldn't mind the slight off topic-ness...

Nose-deep in White Fang right now, was reading along and saw this little excerpt that I liked and thought I'd share:
They ran many miles that day. They ran through the night. And the next day found them still running. They were running over the surface of a world frozen and dead. No life stirred. They alone moved through the vast inertness. They alone were alive, and they sought for other things that were alive in order that they might devour them and continue to live.
This starving wolf pack is written like a fire. Such cool imagery, makes me want to stop and draw. xD A frequent problem when I read.

Would Like to Read but do not currently have in possession (aka my TBR list): American Gods by Neil Gaiman London by Edward Rutherfurd Cretaceous sea: A novel of time travel by Will Hubbel Ice Hunt by James Rollins Raptor by Paul Zindel Tyrannosaur Canyon by Douglas J. Preston West of Eden by Harry Harrison The Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman Africa by Kim Donaldson The Red Wyvern by Katherine Kerr The Rover by Mel Odom In Search of America by Peter Jennings Long Night Dance by Betsy James Eden by Olympia Vernon The Iron Ring by Lloyd Alexander Kushiel’s Dart by Jaquine Carny The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks Silverhair, Longtusk, Icebones by Steven Baxter King’s Shadow by Elizabeth Alder Between by Jean Thompson The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy Dragon’s Bait by Vivien Vande Velde Firegold by Dia Calhoun Pure Dead Magic by Debi Gliordi Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden The Merlin Conspiracy by Dianne Wynne Jones The Book of the Lion by Michael Cadmum Deep Dream of the Forrest by Malcom Bosse The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis